Week 12: Day 1

While I am really proud of myself as I watch the week numbers go up since I've been doing weight watchers, I am also getting nervous because it also means that the semester will soon be drawing to a close- and that means- I need a job. I have been in school for the past 18 years of my life! Yes, I have had part time jobs throughout, but I haven't ever had a "real job." Not to mention that my 19 year old social network is in Memphis, TN and not in VA to help me with the job search. I'm a little nervous, not going to lie.

Moving on to smaller and better things, this morning, CJ and I met up for our C25K workout to kick off WEEK 2! I got to the gym a little early and warmed up on the arc trainer for 25 minutes at 24 resistance. When CJ got there, we did our C25K week 2 day 1 workout. We could both tell it was a little harder than last week which we agreed was a walk in the park. The awesome graphs on the treadmill did at least keep me entertained for a while. I got +4 activity pts!

Awesome treadmill graphs on a machine that looks like its from the late 90's. I was a little afraid of it, but we warmed up quickly to each other.

For work today, I was finishing grading papers from the Stats midterm so I got to work from home. I stopped by the grocery on the way because Matt and I were seriously out of food. I made chili when I got home with what I bought! :) I've been missing my chili potatoes.

The Loot.

I was starving when I got home so I immediately broke into the light chocolate soy milk. I was thinking that if I liked the vanilla almond so much, I'd love another flavor. It was pretty good, but I like the Vanilla Almond better. I had a cup for 2pts while my lunch was heating up.

I had a 6pt Santa Fe Style beans and rice for lunch. Its sooo good but I recommend eating it while its still hot and not spending your lunch break blogging while your food gets cold!

Current favorite.

For the rest of the day, I graded papers, interpreted a class poll, and worked on a program that's due...sometime?? I did get several calls from my favorite people today (Jes and Chubs) and got to catch up for some breaks during the day. Awesome.

Tonight was my weekly weight watchers meeting. I'm down 1.4 lbs this week for a total of 19.8 lbs! That's an average of 1.8 lbs per week! I'm only .2 lbs away from the 20 lb mark so look forward to seeing that next week! I got my 10% down keyring. :)

Since I made my 10% goal, it was time for me to set my ultimate goal weight. I decided on 140 since its within the healthy range for my height and I've gotten a significant part of the way there done already! I may change it when I get closer, but it feels like a good goal for now.

At the meeting today, we talked about how important it is to have a good support system while losing weight (or doing any big lifestyle change). That's the thing- weight watchers (for those who haven't heard much about the system) is supposed to be a lifestyle change instead of a diet. I'm trying to think of it that way and use this time to learn how to eat healthy and learn how my body responds to food and exercise.

So in favor of having good support systems, Kathy, our leader, gave us each 5 bravo stickers to give to people who encourage us in our journeys. (I think she wanted us to exchange them with other meeting members but didn't want to force people to socialize so I gave one to Fran in our meeting for giving good advice continually.) Now, time for the rest of my bravo's!!

I gave Matt a bravo when I got home for supporting me and continually telling me that I'm inspiring and a hotie! :) He makes me so happy about what I'm doing.

Matt pointing to his bravo star sticker!

Now for the rest of the bravo's!

1. Jamie gets a bravo star sticker for always supporting me! She thinks I rock and it makes me happy! The real reason for the bravo though is because she's training for a 1/2 marathon right now. So proud of her!
2. CJ gets a bravos star sticker for being my acountabil-a-buddy for the C25K workout plan. We're doing awesome!
3. Cait gets a bravo star sticker for working out and losing weight on her own. Mad props- you're a stronger woman than me!
4. Darci gets a bravo star sticker for running the blog that inspired me to document my journey. I'm so glad you're still posting!

That's all of my bravo's for now, but I hope you guys are inspired to keep up the awesome work! After giving Matt his bravo, we started heating up dinner. I had dessert first! Two easter cookies for 2pts (1pt each) and then CHILI POTATOES ARE BACK! I had a chili potato with ww cheese for 8pts. Wow- I missed these and how filling they are. So good!

I also had a diet sunkist for dinner for 0pts. Now I'm grading papers and watching dancing with the stars for the rest of the night. I am having two more cookies for 2pts while watching TV tonight.

Yes- these are my favorite cookies! I only buy them for holidays otherwise this whole losing weight thing would not be working!

By the way, did any one notice that I'm out of the obese weight range?? Woohoo! Also- if you haven't been able to comment on my blog in the past and have been using facebook instead, I think I rectified the problem, so feel free to try again on here! Love you guys!

MONDAY STATS:

Points: 20/25

Calories: 1,158
Weekly Allowance Points: 35 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 4 today/4 week
Exercise: C25K week 2 day 1 and arc trainer!
Weekly Weight Loss: -1.4 lbs/ -19.8 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 7

Getting caught up on my daily posts, I promise! I've been behind over the weekend because of grading a million papers... and life in general. Sunday, Matt and I slept it again and it was wonderful. Unfortunately, we had been planning on going to mass and decided that between the late hour we woke up and the pouring down rain, it wasn't going to happen. I am so ready for some nice weather again!

I had my traditional 1 1/2 cups of vanilla almond milk for my 3pt breakfast. (Is it obvious I'm not a breakfast person, yet?)

I graded tests pretty much the entire day Sunday. I took a break to catch up on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution 2nd episode on hulu, but that was it until around 6:30. I had Thai Style Rice noodles and chicken (Smart Ones) for lunch for 5pts and later snacked on 3pts of triscuits and WW Cream cheese.

While I graded my papers, Matt worked on grading lab reports at the desk and Bear and Hamlet played alllll day. So jealous. 

I gave up on trying to fill up the peanut butter kong and just let them have at the jar. It was almost empty, but made a good toy.

After a long sunday of more rain and grading, Matt and I ditched our original plans for dinner. We had planned on going to the grocery and getting chili supplies and cooking that for dinner, but with the rain and having been pent up all day, we decided to skip groceries and pick up food instead. We went to Ragazzi's because we had coupons!! I had a little salad with ceasar dressing 2pts, 2 1/2 really small breadsticks 5pts and some meat tortellini with alfredo sauce (1/2 serving or 1 cup) for 8pts. 

After dinner, we came home and did some more grading until our mood's couldn't handle it anymore. I think we were both a little grouchy by the end of the day. We each had a Yeungling 3pts and watched the first episode of Meir Cat Manor Season 2 on Netflix. (PS- Jamie, I am stealing from your netflix account. The password was saved on the computer- surprise!!)

Was so glad when it was finally bed time. We went to bed at 10:30- it was awesome.

SUNDAY STATS:

Points: 29/25

Calories: 1,514
Weekly Allowance Points: 3 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/18 week
Exercise: grading papers?
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 6

Ah Saturday- I never realize just how much I miss Saturday until it rolls around again. Its the one day where I can put off work I have and not feel stressed out about it since I don't have work or class the next day- thus, my favorite day.

Matt and I woke up late, had a lazy morning, and then went to lunch with Jamie at the Brick Oven. Jamie and Chris were heading out of town to Florida today and we are taking care of the Bone while they're gone. (Not to mention- haven't seen Jamie in a month of Sundays!) At lunch, we ordered a large pizza and ate the whole thing. So good! I had two pieces- 1 1/2 ham pepperoni artichoke ect, and 1/2 cordon bleu for 11pts (I don't have the nutrition data so this is estimated). Sorry if some of these pictures don't show up, I was having issues loading them!

After lunch, I took Jamie and Chris for a rushed drive to the airport. I was so afraid they weren't going to make their plane! But they got on it and shipped off to FL and left me here in the cloudy, nasty C-ville weather. The puppies and I played for a good part of the day until dinner when I made Pad Thai chicken (not a good diet selection)! I had a little less than 1/4 of the total amount I cooked (it was recommended for two servings so 1/2 a serving) and it was 9pts! Wowza. 

Yeah, I dont think these photos are working. :( I'll try and redo these later.

Matt and I played some ps3 and then watched Couples Retreat on On Demand. It was cute and a fun date movie. I had a Yeungling 3pts and 9 triscuits with some ww cream cheese for 4pts while watching.

SATURDAY STATS:

Points: 26/25

Calories: Sorry, didn't get the calorie count today.
Weekly Allowance Points: 7 left/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/18 week
Exercise: couch potato!
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 5

Friday was a long day for me. Matt and I woke up early again- I guess my body will get used to this eventually- and got him to work. I for some reason thought that I had a project due Friday at midnight and was all set up to work on it all day, but it seems the teacher forgot about it. I guess that's a good thing- but I'm sure it will come soon. I had 1 1/2 cups of Vanilla Almond Milk for 3pts for breakfast.

I love this stuff!

After my modest breakfast, I worked on my resume and job search for the rest of the day pretty much with a smattering of grading papers. It is so frustrating to look for jobs. I get bored reading a lot of the job descriptions! How will I make it through some of them! I was initially going to have lunch with James, but she got caught up in court. (Jamie, court, yes, its official- she's a baller now.) 

I was in a bad mood from all the job searching so I pouted and snacked instead of eating a real lunch. I was being whiney all day about having to grade papers and find a job. I had 3pts of on the border chips about 10- oof. After lunch, I went for my C25K week 1 day 3 work out. CJ and my schedules didn't line up today so I went alone for +3 activity pts.

After I got Matt from work around 5:30, we decided it would be a good time to take the night off from work and responsibility because we've been going at it non stop for a few days now. We went to dinner with Chris at Baja. I had about 16-18 chips 7pts with pico de gallo 0pts. Matt and I had decided to splint an entree of Baja chicken tacos, but I only had a bite of mine before giving it to Matt 1pt. I did eat my rice, beans, and lettuce. So good, 3pts. With dinner, I had a margarita for 5pts and two beers 4pts while playing darts. 

I mixed the rice, beans, and lettuce together on my little plate. It looked gross, but it was soooooo yummy! The beans were just spicy enough too!

We went to a friends' house afterword and I had about one more beer (maybe less) there 2pts because I was dding. So- what happens when I dd? We stop for fast food on the way home...I got Mickey-D's fries! 11pts wowza. Is it bad that doesn't phase me since its fries?

FRIDAY STATS:

Points: 39/25

Calories: 2,051 wow- am I dieting?? Hard to tell with that number!
Weekly Allowance Points: 8/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 3 today/18 week
Exercise: C25K week 1 day 3
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 4

It was such a long day today. I was exhausted and felt like I couldn't get ahead of how tired I was all day long. Finally I gave up fighting it and went home and napped. Matt pretty much had to drag me out of bed this morning. For breakfast I had a cup and a half of Vanilla Almond Silk for 3pts.

There is another 1/2 to that glass. Dieting doesn't make me a magician, my phone camera just sucks sometimes.

I took some tea to work and class to try and get some caffeine in my veins.

At school, I went to my 1st class and felt really sour afterwords- damn hormones- so I decided to go home and work. I went home and couldn't decide what my stomach was telling me so I tried a snack first to see how it went. I had a serving of french onion sunchips for 3pts. Didn't seem hungry so I gave up on lunch after that. 

After a little more work, I finally gave up and took an hr and a half nap trying to sleep off my body's protests about our day. It kind of worked. Little Bear napped with me!

We went and picked Matt up from work together. Bear was so excited when he saw Matt, I thought he was going to launch himself out the window. I was able to grab him before that disaster happened. I hadn't eaten much real food all day even though what I did have took up 6pts! That feels like a lot of points for very little food! Matt and I decided to skip making the pad thai we had planned and went out to eat instead. I had so many points and we have so little money so we went to Raising Cane's. Delish, but not recommended calorically. I couldn't find the nutrition info online, but I approximated with Abner's chicken. I had 3 chicken tenders and some fries (I didn't eat the gigantor peice of bread).

9pts for the tenders, crinkle fries 9pts. A little sauce 1pt.

I also counted the calories today just for comparison (I've promised a few people I'd do this.) Today came out to around 1,243 calories. I'm sure a lot of the time its more than this because generally I don't have the fatty dinner I had today. I'll keep you posted on if that's true over the next week.

Also- I forgot to post my weight loss chart on Monday after meeting.

Close to the 20 lbs mark! Hopefully I can hit it this week! If not- there's always next week!

THURSDAY STATS:

Points: 24/25

Calories: 1240
Weekly Allowance Points: 22/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 0 today/15 week
Exercise: napping
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 3

Another tired and Jam-packed day. It was a little nicer because I was working among friends all day, but still long. I got up with a headache and took 2 advil with some of the new Silk Vanilla Almond Milk. WOW- if you have a sweet tooth- GET THIS! Its only 90 calories for the vanilla per cup and 70 of the regular. Delish and light. I had 2/3 of a cup for 1pt.

I had slimfast for breakfast for 4pts on the way to work.

I got a great treat this morning and attended Xtina's PhD proposal. She did awesome!! And I got some good ideas for how to format my ppt for my master's thesis defense. Unfortunately, she had bodos bagels up for grabs at the event. I had 1/2 of an everything bagel for 3pts with 1pt of cream cheese. So much for light breakfast.

After the proposal, I ran to a meeting with the professor I TA for, then CJ and I went to the gym for day two of C25K!! Go us! Again. I went two miles total (including my 5 minute warm up and cool down walks) I got +2 activity pts for the run and managed to make it to school with all my running gear this time!

After running, we ate in CJ's lab like usual. I had a Santa Fe Style Chicken Salad from Kroger for 5pts. It was delish, but I was hungry again pretty soon after.

CJ and I went to Starbucks to work for the rest of the day. I had a 1/2 a bottle of green tazo tea while there for 2pts (they have a shit ton of sugar in them, but are really good) and a cup of chex mix I brought with me (thank God this is the last of the bag! I was eating these way too fast!) for 4pts. CJ and I migrated to my apt to work for the rest of the day. 

Bear was sooo happy to see CJ. She played fetch with him while I set up the tablet to continue grading papers. 10 page test times 73 students = 730 pages of misery for me to grade. Uhg! We had a cup of almond milk as a snack- I had been craving this since I tried it this morning- for 2pts.

I continued grading and felt like wasting valuable lifetime throughout the night. I had a 5pt smart ones entree for dinner and 8pts of tostitos and guacamole while vegging out on the couch and grading. I've been a bad kid. I'm going have to plan out my points intake for tomorrow. I'm pretty sure part of the reason I've been eating so much is that I've worked out every day this week.

I got to take a break from grading to watch cougar town and update my blogposts. Favorite quote from the show: "They say you can get four glases of wine out of a bottle, I only get like one and a half." So true and so sad!

I'll be spending the rest of the night grading and probably won't finish, but hopefully I'll make a lot of headway. I have a ton of homework due this weekend and next week, so we'll see if I make all the due dates!

WEDNESSDAY STATS:

Points: 35/25
Weekly Allowance Points: 22/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 2 today/15 week
Exercise: C25K Week 1 Day 2
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey

Week 11: Day 2

Tuesday- what a day. I was tired all day. I had sooo much to do at work and school! Just look at all the bags I had to drag in to make it through the day.

 Backpack- books and macbook, gym bag, lunch box, 2nd computer case. Yes, I was a homeless bag lady today.

I grabbed a slim fast (yes, they're back) for 4pts before heading to work. This may be completely mental, but when I drank slim fast consistently in December, my hair (which never grows) started growing faster and was shinier. Also- I'm an inconsistent vitamin taker at best, so I think that's why, but I keep them in my diet just in case! Vanity- great sales pitch.

I could not focus in class! It was so difficult so needless to say, I more than happy for the first one to be over and to be on my way to the gym for my workout date with Cait! We went 40 minutes on the Arc Trainers. I keep doing a little more and a little harder every time.

By the way, I must have left my brain at home this morning because 1. I forgot my tennis shoes which I realized in the locker room. 2. I started to go to the car to get my spare crappy pair. 3. Get halfway to the car and realize I left my keys at the gym. 4. Go back to the gym to get my keys and NOPE- in my lab. 5. Called Matt and he rescued me with his keys. Fortunately the spare shoes had socks in them. Brain, why did you leave me??

5 minutes before finishing! I got +4 activity pts.

After our workout, I went to my usual lunch spot in CJ's lab. I had this AWESOME Santa Fe Style Rice and Beans Smart Ones Entree for 6pts- new favorite and some grape tomatoes 0pts. 

After lunch, I started back to grading stats exams. I was over this job before it started unfortunately. I was in such a bad mood at work because of some people letting work fall through the cracks. It really got to me. So after my second class, Matt and I headed home for some R&R...aka me catching up on the biggest loser and answering stats emails while waiting for Lost to come on. I was soo surprised they voted Cheryl off! I thought it would be Stephanie! Even though I completely love her! Sam, Koli, O'Neil, Sunshine, Ashley, and Stephanie are my current favorites although Lance is growing on me. He's like a little kid!

I had 1 cup of Chex Mix when I came home for 4pts.

Matt made some shells and cheese for his dinner and I stole a little over a cup for 5pts. I was so ashamed that I didn't take a picture and I wasn't planning on posting about it either, but I am putting on my big girl pants and owning up to my self medication of food. Did I mention it was a rough day? Thennnnn....I had 4pts of Chex mix again and continuing with the shame, I didn't take a picture.

Finally, I had 4pts of shoe string fries and 1pt of honey mustard for dinner. I got over my internal argument with myself and took a picture of this. Granted- I was just going to give ya'll the photo of the fries and not mention the shells and cheese and the second round of chex mix!

I was sooo full and actually, it did help a little. Matt took a break from studying for his midterm and we watched Lost. It was so good. Only 7 more episodes! Maybe I will replace the hole in my heart with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution!

TUESDAY STATS:

Points: 28/25
Weekly Allowance Points: 32/35 weekly
Activity Points Earned: 4 today/13 week
Exercise: Arc Trainer 15 or 35 resistance- 40 minutes
Weekly Weight Loss: -2.4 lbs/ -18.4 total

Hope to see less of each other next time!

Casey